In the aftermath of the Multi-21 saga and with speculation around Red Bull considering Kimi Raikkonen as a replacement for Mark Webber next season, Sebastian Vettel has told Sport Bild that he would be happy if that were the case.
“I don’t care who my team mate is. If you want to win, you have to beat everyone” said the German world champ.
“If Kimi was my teammate, fine! We have no problem with each other and we’re mature enough to deal with it even in a difficult situation. I get along well with him,” said Vettel. “He’s just very honest. There’s no bullshit with him.”
Raikkonen also only has good things to say about Vettel but has been very careful not to give away anything about his future plans beyond his contract with the Lotus F1 team.
“We trust each other in a duel to not do anything stupid,” said Raikkonen.
“We’re both open and honest. If we were to crash, we would probably complain about each other, but that’s just normal.”
There is no confirmation from Red Bull regarding the potential move but rumours continue to circulate and there is clearly no love lost between Vettel and Webber so it is doubtful whether Webber will continue with the team.
Eric Boullier has commented that Kimi would be better served staying with the Lotus F1 team where he would not need to play second fiddle to Sebastian Vettel.
Dickie Stanford, Race Team Manager of the Williams F1 Team talks about the pressures of an F1 pit stop, including how he used to hate it and how the whole world is watching …
A night race around the streets of Bangkok is one step closer to becoming a reality after the government approved circuit plans for a Grand Prix of Thailand in 2015.
The proposed circuit is 5.995km in length and will be based around the Royal Thai Naval Dockyard. The starting grid will be on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. Plans for floating grandstands which will allow spectators to enjoy close-up action despite being so close to the water, are also under discussion.
Officials are keen to use the race to showcase the city and the route would include tourist attractions like the Grand Palace, Temple of Dawn and the Victory Monument.
Kanokphand Chulakasem, Governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand told the Bangkok Post, “As the starting and finishing point would be on the bank of the Chao Phraya River, we may be able to build the main stands in the river. It would also be convenient for transportation of equipment. Only a small group of residents would be affected by the proposed route.”
2014 Pre-season Formula One testing could start in January already according to an article in Autosport.
The FIA is currently looking into finding a solution that would allow teams to start testing a few weeks earlier than they usually would. January testing is currently banned but the introduction of the new 1.6l V6 Turbo engines means teams will want to get out earlier to understand the new engines.
Mercedes team principal, Ross Brawn, told Autosport, “I think every team is going to want to be out early with the new engine and understand it. I am sure everybody will build their proper race car, even if it is with launch spec of bodywork, to do that work.”
He went on to say that testing in the Middle East would also be even more beneficial next year and will help avoid a “messy start to the season”.
“The main thing is to give the engines and power trains a good work out at high temperature. If the first time we get to try the new powertrain is Bahrain, or wherever the first race is next year, it could get very messy. And we don’t want that – we want to avoid it.”
In 2009 Brawn GP had the double diffuser, in 2010 McLaren had the F-Duct, 2011 saw Red Bull pioneer and perfect exhaust blown diffusers. In 2012 we had Mercedes bring out the Double DRS. Every year in Formula One there is a new development that one team brings out and is touted as a game changer, which naturally teams complain about the legality of such a device, but eventually end up copying.
The Lotus F1 team uses the FRIC suspension. Photo: Lotus F1 team
It is no different in 2013. The new development this season is the FRIC suspension. FRIC stands for Front and Rear Interlinked suspension, which is being used by Mercedes and Lotus as far as we can tell. The basic principle behind FRIC suspension is to essentially keep the car at a constant ride height under braking, acceleration and during cornering.
This is not a new technology, it’s merely a redevelopment of the early active suspension that Williams ran on their FW14 and FW14B in the early 1990’s, which was subsequently banned for the 1994 season.
The only difference between today’s FRIC system and Williams’ is that the FRIC system is totally passive and it is not controlled by any electronics. Which makes it perfectly legal and falls within the FIA technical regulations.
The FRIC suspension controls the pitch and roll of the car. Pitch is when a car’s nose dives under braking, the weight and balance of the car gets transferred forward. During acceleration the weight and balance of the car shifts towards the rear, the nose of the car lifts up. Roll is when a car corners the weight and balance of the car gets transferred to the opposite direction of the turn. I.e. if you’re turning right, the weight and balance of the car gets transferred to the left and vice versa.
The FRIC system passively controls the pitch and roll of the car by moving hydraulic fluid through a series of pipes, valves and cylinders to keep the car at a constant ride height.
East Coast Radio Breakfast DJ, Darren Maule, shares his thoughts on Sebastian Vettel – and just how much the three-time Formula One World Champ has to say.
7 Quotes…says it all!
Sebastian Vettel is fast, we know that, but recently in areas we didn’t quite expect. We all know how fast he is on the track, but where he is seriously picking up the pace is just how quickly he is catching up with George Bush when it comes to live verbal gaffs.
We thought he was going to be another one of those boring same-old, same-old politically correct post-race interviewee’s like Schumacher, Hakkinen and Button.
Not so! Vettel has proved himself as vocal, and opinionated, as the likes of Montoya, Irvine and Alesi. Only Vettel has had a lot less censoring and is a lot younger – which is never a good combination!
Here are a few of Vettel’s epic quotes to date:
1. We thought he was off to a good start in his career when he said;
“You can’t always say what you’d like to say.”
2. I’m not sure if Vettel is talking about his lack of patience or his prowess in the bedroom with this one;
“Whenever I have to do something, I try to minimise the time it takes me to do it. I just cannot wait.”
3. Here Vettel gives us a glimpse at one of the personality flaws which made him overtake his teammate Webber – when team orders had told him strictly not to;
“There are a few things that make me angry. Mostly things not going my way.”
Sergio Perez may have been thrown in the deep end says Reynard Gelderblom. Photo: Mclaren.com
Sergio Perez certainly caused a few Formula One fan’s hearts to skip a few beats during the Bahrain Grand Prix. Reynard Gelderblom sent us his thoughts on how raw, young talent is introduced to front running teams and how we can avoid such hot-headed rough-around-the edges type racing in future.
A new hope in reckless abandon
The 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix was for sure a cracker of a race. Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean drove their way to well deserved podium finishes. Paul Di Resta showed great heart and fight – in many ways he was my driver of the day.
For some teams, it didn’t go as planned: Mercedes didn’t deliver on their qualifying pace and by now I’m sure you’ll get shot for uttering the word “wing” in the Ferrari garage. For others, it almost ended in tears: As if McLaren doesn’t have enough issues with pace to take back to the drawing board, they’ll certainly need to address another issue that came up during the last two races – Sergio Perez.
Perez showed pace during the early part of the 2012 season and with Lewis Hamilton’s departure, he finally got his rewards when McLaren signed him as replacement. The problem is, since his podium in Monza, he’s gone right off the boil.
A promising start to the 2012 season was concluded with some silly incidents and fairly mediocre finishes. Things didn’t start off too well at McLaren either. Constantly being outdone by team mate Jenson Button brought on some questions over his head as early as the Malaysian Grand Prix… but wait, it got worse when we got to China.
In the early stages of the Chinese GP, Raikkonen became the victim of Perez weaving around excessively. Given that the damage was minimal this didn’t end up being too big an issue, but then we got to Bahrain. After having another fairly quiet first half of the race, Perez in the second half can at best be described as an utter lunatic.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a good inter-team mate rivalry but a hot-headed, hammer and nail assault is hardly what you call good sportsmanship. Granted, Perez may be starting to feel the pressure, but there are surely more suitable ways to show that you belong in a top team like McLaren.
This however does beg the question, how are future prospects being prepared for when they step up to a front running team. Didn’t we see this before? Felipe Massa was certainly a bit rough around the edges when he moved to Ferrari and I’m sure we’ll never forget Romain Grosjean during the early part of 2012. So much time and money is spent on new technology by all the teams each year, but are they making sure that the people they entrust this to are properly prepared to control it?
Red Bull will certainly claim to have the right answer with the Torro Rosso team, yet we’ve only really seen Vettel progressing to the flagship team. Perhaps this is a good time to reintroduce the third car for Friday’s second free practice session where the third driver gets an opportunity. Maybe it’s time to look at a mentoring system where young guns get to spend some time with former drivers during the race weekend. I’ve never driven an F1 car so I don’t have any real answers, but I do have some valid questions.
To me, it just looks like we’re taking tomorrow’s talent and tossing them into the deep end – like coins into a wish pond.
According to German newspaper, Bild, Robert Kubica has been secretly conducting Formula One tests in the Mercedes simulator.
The Polish driver was seen testing Mercedes’ DTM car during the winter, but signed up with Citroen for second-tier World Rally Championship in 2014 as he continues his recovery after his near-fatal crash two years ago.
Kubica has openly stated that his ultimate goal is returning to the Formula One grid but he still has some way to go – especially as far as healing his injured right arm is concerned.
Bild reported that Kubica has been testing in Mercedes’ F1 driver simulator “for a few weeks” already.
A source from within a rival Formula One team said that he “spotted the Pole at the airport in London”, and that his “destination was Brackley, Mercedes’ headquarters, even though nobody at the Silver Arrows wants to comment”.
Could we be seeing Kubica back in the seat of a Formula One car in the near future?
Despite an operational failure on Fernando Alonso’s car Ferrari are keeping things in perspective.
Although the Spaniard is thirty points adrift of championship leader Sebastian Vettel after only four races of the 2013 season Ferrari see no reason to drop their chins. “The gap is 30 points now, but if he has zero points next time and we win, it will be five,” explained Domenicali. “With only four races gone, there is plenty of time. Don’t forget, we had a 50 points [advantage] last summer, so it is easy stuff.”
The Italian squad has started the 2013 in much better shape than the last few season and barring any issues at the Bahrain GP Alonso was the most likely to challenge for victory. Ultimately, Alonso’s eighth place finish may not appear spectacular on paper but three points could be telling towards the end of a very long championship season.
